balance, poise, control. Nope.

balance, poise, control. Nope.
Originally uploaded by decentred.

we went to Mike and Miyuki's last night; Em was giving an Italian cooking lesson to the assembled girl-throng, whilst we (mike, paddy and I) played the somewhat confusingly named 'Winning Eleven 9' - a football game which is both realistic and mental at the same time. Realistic, because it actually looks like a real game to watch when other people are playing (albeit with more Japanese, and i dont think that there are normally giant numbers above professional footballers), and mental because it only takes one errant finger to hoon the ball way across the pitch and into the crowd. Or maybe I'm just crap at it. Probably...

Kumi brought round an entire box of stuff for us today; she was round yesterday for more cooking stuff, and noticed that we didn't really have much in the way of crockery and the like. So, true to form, I got a call about an hour ago, and she turned up about 10 minutes later with a box containing a whole load of bowls and plates, a couple more saucepans and (would you adam and eve it) a blender. It was cool. Em's going to be well pleased - there's loads of really useful stuff in there!

Oh, and I subscribed to the Daily Yomiuri today, an English Language Japanese newspaper, cos we're fed up of having no clue about Japanese current affairs. At the very least, it'll be good for conversation at work...

McG, meet your nemesis - Takayuki.

McG, meet your nemesis - Takayuki.
Originally uploaded by decentred.

I'm Ill. Not very ill, mind; just that kind of achey cold thing that everyone seems to have had. However, I did get a great laugh through the wooziness yesterday - I had some upper-intermediate level students come up with 'film pitches' for me, which I would then assess on both linguistic and stylistic grounds. The one in the picture opposite was so good, i had to write it in whiteboard marker in the Teacher's Copy of the book (at the back, so it'll probably be found long after Em and I have left)

The title of this post may need explaining to some, so here goes:

The McG referenced is Alex McGregor (current location, Rio) and not the producer-of-the-OC-McG (although comparisons can and indeed are regularly drawn). Alex has on numerous occasions come up with concepts and scripts for films - from the scary 'The Will', a horror movie, to the balls-out ridiculous 'Mega-Tsunami' (which was almost immediately moved to the never-gonna-get-a-green-light pile as it was devised shortly before the real one). Takayuki is one of the students in my class. His idea, which is a low-brow, action thriller casts good-ol' Governer Schwartzenegger as a renegade, whose only unfulfilled ambition is to kill the most deadly animals in the world with his bare hands (I have paraphrased from the original - Arnie... er...to kill all animal in Amazon Jungle with...er...hand.) What makes this special (and lowers the budget and insurance costs considerably) is that there need be no real pig-hearted Arn anywhere near it - it can all be done in CG! Now, all we need is for the T-man and McG to get together and bash out a script - we can have Hank Azaria (or Tim Allen depending on budget) to voice it - Golden Globes, here we come...

Being ill means i've got more time to spend on t'interweb, messing about. Check out this video for some Mayday hip-hoppage...

[cough] laters...

ready set go!

ready set go!
Originally uploaded by decentred.

After tomorrow, I've got 4 days off, I'm planning to head off for a bit of a trip. I'm going to go to Fukuoka for a night, and then on for a night to Kumamoto. It's going to be a super-budget affair, but that's cool for two reasons - not only can I stay in capsule hotels (normally used by businessmen who've missed the train either through hard work or hard liquor) but I can avoid all the normal tourist areas which can suck up cash (although I do want to see the botanical gardens in Kumamoto). I much prefer the 'just have a wander until you see something interesting' school of tourism, mainly because I reckon that you get to see much more of wherever you are than if you spend the day trying to get from one place to another, never really looking at stuff on the way. I've just finished reading 'Lost Cosmonaut', by Daniel Calder (thanks again to the folks), the story of a slightly odd guy who after living in Russia decides to visit only the places that no-one ever goes to. It's a really good book - mainly for the style.

I also plan to grow a beard.

hecticism, multimedia and the shandy gaf

the shandy gaf. steer clear..
Originally uploaded by decentred.

I actually have no idea what's actually in a Shandy Gaf, but I'm not too keen to find out.

The weekend was way busier than normal; with Emma N gone to Yufuin on her homestay (I think she said she'll be working in a restaurant, in exchange for food/board and a week of no-Nova) and Paddy ill, we were pushed at work, but all the students were cool so it wasn't too much of a hassle.

There's a wierd concept that all Nova schools have - the MultiMedia terminal. This allows you, at a moment's notice, to bung a student into a little room, give him/her a headset and an encouraging smile, and connect said student via videoconferencing software to some plum in a call centre in Osaka who'll teach them for 40 minutes. We were given this as a location option in our pre-interview blurb, and told that if we wanted to work there, we'd not only be paid more, but would end up with a bit more time off as a result of doing the odd night-shift.

Turns out that if you live in Japan, and at 4.30 am just have to know the meaning of aristarch* (and can't google it), you can turn on your own personal 'Ginganet' box, and dial up the Nova MM centre, book a lesson and find out from a gen-you-wine native English speaker (who will probably google it). However, this service comes at a price; I don't know how much, but if not a kidney, then at least a spleen...
Both Em and I thought about taking up an MM position - for about 3 seconds, and decided that working in what amounts to a call centre would suck. I can't really comment, as I've never been, or met anyone who's been or worked there, but I reckon that teaching someone in a cubicle at 15 frames per second is a hell of a lot less fun than actually being there. Ho. Hum.

*Noun, meaning a strong critic [of sthg]. So there.

that about sums it up, really

that about sums it up, really
Originally uploaded by decentred.

the last few days have been uncommonly frenetic here; people coming and going; work has been crazy due to a couple of people being ill/having shifts owed to them and such. The upshot of this has been that there has been little (if any) time to sit and relax - hence nothing doing on the social calendar other than the usual 'having some food and going to bed' routine. That's been pretty good though, and there are a few days off coming that mean I can spend some more time looking at this screen...

Until then, goodnight.

hai, chi-zu...

hai, chi-zu
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

...which is quite literally 'cheese' (another of those borrowed phrases that keep turning up).

As is probably evident by now, we went bowling the other night, because Geoff (back row, 5th from left) popped back to Nakatsu after leaving Nova in february to live in NY with his girlfriend. As the American visa rules say that you can only stay in the country for 90 days at a time, and for no more than 180 in the year, he hopped on a plane to Japan for 2 weeks so that he can go back and start the other 90 days later. With so many cameras, the guy from the bowling alley was a little confused, and it took about 5 minutes to sort him out, by which time we were all smiled out, but he persevered and got there in the end. I can't remember who won, but it sure wasn't me...

'Leg muscle damage instructions'

'Leg muscle damage instructions'
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

So. Last week i found that i had a lump on my left leg, about halfway up, in between the two main muscle groups on the top of the thigh. I'd hurt the leg about a month ago playing football, but I (and everyone else) assumed that I'd just pulled a muscle, and despite it hurting like crap for about a week I'd not really thought anything more of it. Then last week when I felt the lump, and I thought I'd better get it checked out - but i had to wait over the weekend, which was somewhat tense.

We got paid on monday, so armed with about 20,000 yen I headed for the doctor's early. I was seen pretty much straight away; the doctor took one look at the leg and sent me straight to the 'Kawashima Orthopaedic Surgery' about 4km away. I got myself a referral letter, and headed over there on the mama-chari.

Two X-rays, two consultations and two hours later and the process was complete. Turns out that what i thought was a pulled muscle was in fact a torn one - the lump is scar tissue (possibly exacerbated due to me training, cycling, running and playing touch rugby and football for the last month) and will now be with me for the rest of my natural.
The last consultant who saw me spoke very good English, and told me that it should be back to normal in about a month. If not, I can go back for an MRI (which sounds cool - maybe I should go anyway...)

I was worried about the cost of all of this nonsense, given that my medical insurance is reimbursement rather than pre-paid cover, and private medicine even sounds expensive, but the total cost of visiting a doctor, getting a referral, two x-rays, and two examinations by consultants: 7940 yen, which is about 40 quid. Nice.

Anyway, I've got to lay off it for a while, which is OK, but it does mean I may have to lay off the 'keeping for a month or so, which is a shame - I'm quite enjoying it (which is something I never thought I'd say...)

burainu, doko desu ka?

poirot
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

...to quote the lovely and always relevant Pixies.

It's been a tough day. Not only do i get into work and find i've got loads of high-level students which is cool, but requires much more on-the-ball-ness than your average day, but we had our first Nihongo lesson after three weeks, and i had to learn about 50 adjectives and their negatives. I suck as a student; I really hope that I'm a better teacher...

But, I've found a novel new twist on my Agatha Addiction - "Great Detectives Poirot and Marple". As you can see from the pic, it's an anime take on some classic Christie stories... except not quite. Actually, they take a fair few liberties with the plot, as you can see from the following itnernet synopsis:

"Young Mabel West is the daughter of mystery writer Raymond West, who wants her to lead a normal life. Rebelling against this, Mabel wants to be a great detective, and sets out for London to become assistant to none other than Hercule Poirot, the great Belgian detective who resides there. She finally wins the reluctant approval of her father, and embarks on an exciting life of mystery and suspense - his only demand being that she occasionally spend some time with her great-aunt, Jane Marple, in the small village of St. Mary Mead."

I'msorrywhatthehell? Actually, it's brilliant, and you can see more oddness here.

Night night.

waiting for monday

some wierd tea stuff
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

monday is payday - we'll finally have some cash again. We're OK financially, but we're having to be pretty tight for the last week or so. However, until we're off the probationary salary, it'll still be pretty tight until we can get our real salary.

Case in point, we were planning to spend a couple of days at the end of the month in Nagasaki - It's not too far away, and we were prepared to do it all on a shoestring, but at the end it looks like our laces are too short even for that... It'll be all good in another couple of months, but until then I think that it's daytrips only. Oita deserves another trip, as only I have been there, and I spent most of that day training.

But, it's all good apart from that - watched a rough edit of Luke and Alex's film, which was good (if somewhat inscrutable) and we've been getting re-acquainted with the lovely mac and all its televisual goodies. That, and speaking to people on Skype (including a just-about-to-go-to-work Mikko - sorry!) has made it a pretty good week.

hand-ache

IMG_0008
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

I bust my hand yesterday at football, and today it hurts quite a lot. Not too much, but I wasn't really up to training tonight with Paddy et all; although it remains to be seen if they go - guess I'll find out tomorrow. It's been a very relaxing day today, which is nice for two reasons: I'm really tired after last week at work, and we're both really skint. Last month was a small pay month, so by now it's the 'sitting at home watching dvds' day-off plans. I'm glad, actually; we've seen some good stuff, and there's really no limit to the amount of Poirot we can sit through. Good stuff.

Music of the moment (by request)

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Rilo Kiley - The Execution Of All Things
Arovane - Lilies
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Fan Club
Susumu Yokota - Sakura
Sigur Ros - Takk
Jehst - Falling Down
Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins
and some other stuff that i peeled off the underside of my ipod...

my space.

IMG_0091
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

Actually, this was taken in the dark, on a 15-second timer. It makes it look all odd and thing.

I was wondering this morning - how long before myspace is the primary method of communication? Imagine, the Myspace phone (TM); a device which plays your favourite music/demo EP as a ringtone, and which allows other people to add themselves to your phonebook without you knowing. Text messages can be only 16,000 characters or more, and you get four hundred replies to each message you send.

Actually, I think myspace is a good idea; it's really easy to keep in contact with people. I saw Heath-bar's page the other day, which Lukas pointed me at. It's very good, and scared the crap out of me when the (excellent) Postal Service started hooning out of the speakers at random at me. I'd forgotten about the Myspace thing that lets you play stuff at people, and it was 1am so i spent a couple of frantic seconds looking for the pause button. But very good site, nonetheless, and I spent an hour or so jumping aimlessly from person to person. Lots of fun.

Inside every little monkey, is an even littler monkey, trying to get out...

IMG_0046
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

Had my Chibiko Kids training today - even more bizarre than I'd expected. I reckon that in a few years time, I'm going to conduct a survey of the kids that had Chibi lessons, and assess their attitudes to western customs. I predict their answers as follows (assuming, that is, that they paid attention in the lessons):

• 1. All western countries not only smack the crap out of the food that they are about to eat, but bid it goodbye afterwards.


• 2. There exists, in many parts of the caucasian world, a game called 'Touch the Wall', which involves touching two walls of a room, singing whilst the act is carried out, for no good reason and seemingly at random.


• 3. All activities not requiring speech must have some form of sung accompaniment. Failing that, a CD of mellow piano music which the Sims 2 would be envious of is OK.


• 4. When describing weather in many parts of the world, it is neccessary to accompany the particular weather being experienced with extravagant hand gesturing. In the unlikely event that 'snowing' is the current meteorological state, the 'hands out in front, fingers expanding and contracting in synchronous motion' or 'boob grab' gesture is the most appropriate.


• 5. The most common expression used in western culture is "Are we ready? 1, 2, 3, go!" followed by a pause of anything up to 7 seconds.

Actually, it was a really good laugh, and Katie (another teacher from Nakatsu) and I managed to have a nice wander around Oita afterwards, so all in all, a good day.

Fishing and things

IMG_0011
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

We went fishing today, out at the Port; it was pretty cool, even if we weren't able to catch any fish. The fact that we were trying to catch fish with bamboo poles, completely the wrong size hooks and entirely inappropriate bait. However, that didn't stop us spending a very nice afternoon lazing about with Dan and Narumi, and generally being inept at the noble sport of fishing.

Actually, it's pretty lucky that we didn't catch anything; I for one wouldn't have a clue what to do if we happened to catch a fish...

Bank sweetie

Bank sweetie
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

Financial institutions take note: if you offer little branded sweets, your customers will love you. Fact. I'm not sure about other countries, but this kind of behaviour is not at all common to the UK bank customer - we're lucky not to get a sharp rap on the knuckles when we as much as dare to ask why the card we ordered 3 weeks ago has not only not appeared, but has been sent to a Joan Nights, who's gone to Mauritius for a week on me. Not so here - if you go anywhere, a bank, a shop, a restaurant, you can pick up one (or many) of these tiny sweets - they're everywhere.

Still doesn't explain why this little fellow has a massive orange for a head, and why, despite wearing very cool clothes and being quite famous, he looks so grumpy. Some people are never happy...

Greetings from Nakatsu, Wyoming

Greetings from Nakatsu, Wyoming
Originally uploaded by p1ckle.

It doesn't take much, here on Kyushu, to find a scene like this - pretty much any space that isn't housed is cultivated. This was taken on the way back from Jusco, a big old shopping mall a couple of miles outside the centre, where we went today. It was about 25 degrees outside and humid as, well, something humid (what's a good comparative for humidity; somehow 'humid as hell' seems inappropriate) so it was very nice indeed to be inside a big air-conditioned box for the hottest hours of the day. We got ourselves some lunch, some other assorted stuff, and also bought some more stuff for fishing tomorrow. We're going with Dan and Narumi, and although we fully expect to catch nothing at all, it'll be fun to sit about by a river and do very little.

We went training tonight - Paddy, the task-master/coach, was only up for an easy one, and he and Katie are coming over for some Lost. Emma N handed in her resignation at work today, which means that in about a month we'll have gone from 7 teachers to 5, David having been transferred to Kokura for reasons not to obtuse to fathom. Emma, on the other hand, is getting a new job in Kumamoto, which is further south and further left, which should be really good for her. Good on yer, Emma...